Libraries Scholarly Works

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Browsing Libraries Scholarly Works by Author "Babb, Maureen"

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    Collective Agreements and the Freedom for Librarians to Research
    (2018-04-23) Babb, Maureen
    The ability to conduct and disseminate research on any topic, even a politically sensitive one, is a component of academic freedom. The collective agreements, which govern the rights and responsibilities of librarians, of twelve Canadian universities were examined to determine the state of academic freedom and the expectations and provisions for research at these institutions.
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    Health Professionals’ Awareness of Predatory Journals
    (Canadian Health Libraries Association (CHLA), 2018-06-16) Babb, Maureen; Dingwall, Orvie
    Introduction: Predatory journals have become a serious problem in recent years; they threaten to compromise the integrity of medical literature by introducing poor quality material into the academic record. Librarians and editors have been at the forefront of raising awareness about such journals, but have primarily focused on advising academics to avoid publishing in predatory venues. Healthcare professionals engage with the medical literature regularly, using it in their practice, to inform their own research, and to develop policy. As such, it is important that they be aware of the issues posed by predatory journals. This study assesses the level of awareness of health professionals regarding predatory journals, and explores the effectiveness of education sessions in raising that awareness. Methods: During a continuing education session delivered to health professionals, attendees rated their familiarity with predatory journals. In response to their low levels of familiarity, a continuing education session was developed, to assist health professionals in becoming aware of the existence and perils of predatory journals. Session attendees were surveyed on their prior familiarity with such journals, and the effectiveness of the education session. Results: Participants expressed little to no prior awareness of predatory journals. Education sessions were an effective means of raising their level of awareness. Discussion: While healthcare professionals require awareness of predatory journals to accurately assess the information they use on a daily basis, their level of awareness tended to be very low. Education sessions appear to be an effective means of raising healthcare professional awareness of predatory journals.
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    It's a poster about posters: how an in-person literacy poster session went online
    (American Libraries Association Conference (ALA ’21), 2021-06-24) Romund, Grace; Fuhr, Justin; Speare, Marie; Albrecht, Vickie; Babb, Maureen; Schultz, Ryan
    The University of Manitoba’s science librarians developed a three-credit, second-year course entitled “Information Skills for the Sciences” that was delivered for the first time in the fall of 2020. The culminating project of the course was a scientific poster session where students shared their research project as a poster presentation with their instructors and classmates. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the course was moved to online synchronous delivery and all assignments needed to be adapted for the online format. We designed a virtual poster session simulating an in-person event, hosting the poster session on Zoom for a class of twenty students using breakout rooms to separate presentations. Our poster details the methods used to deliver an online in-class poster session in an undergraduate setting with visualizations to illustrate the experience. Despite the conditions of remote learning, the poster presentation session allowed students to engage meaningfully with the research of their classmates demonstrating that an exciting end-of-semester event like an in-person poster session was possible in an online environment. We discuss the challenges we encountered creating the poster session as well as our reflections on what worked and what might be improved in the future.
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    A Pilot Study Examining the Perceptions of Academic Librarians as Researchers According to Academic Librarians
    (Alberta Library Conference, 2014) Babb, Maureen
    This pilot study explored the perception of academic librarians as researchers and academics according to academic librarians themselves. Previous research acknowledges the tendency of relations between librarians and non-librarian faculty to be strained, with faculty frequently unaware of the research activities of librarians. Perceptions of academic librarians do not often reflect their true capabilities. Despite these flawed perceptions, librarians conduct research regularly, both within and outside of the Library and Information Studies (LIS) field. This study explored the nature of collaborative research between librarians and faculty, the perceived function(s) of research for librarians and the ability of librarians to conduct research.
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    Small Projects Add Up: Doing Research as a Sessional Librarian
    (Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL), 2020) Babb, Maureen
    This chapter discusses the scaling of a research project to fit within a sessional librarian position, and to align with the assigned duties thereof. As well, this chapter discusses the process of developing a small-scale research project with the intention of working it into a larger research agenda that can be carried across positions and institutions.
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    Who Thinks What About Research? Academic Librarian Research According to Librarians, Faculty, and Collective Agreements
    (2018-05-31) Babb, Maureen
    Research is an important component of academic librarianship. Often required for promotion and tenure, research is integral to the practice of evidence-based librarianship. This session will review a study of the perceptions of librarian research according to librarians and non-librarian faculty, as well as the provisions for librarian research in collective agreements at universities across Canada. Surveys and semi-structured interviews were used to solicit insights from participants on the nature of librarian research, the ability of librarians to conduct research, and the awareness and perceived value of that research. Librarian research was rated as critical and valuable, though awareness of librarian research was found to be relatively low among non-librarian faculty. When this awareness was increased, interdisciplinary communication, trust, and engagement with faculty improved. Formalized support for research was often lacking, even at institutions that require research of their librarians.